152 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



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Figure 1. — Part of the Boston Fish Pier, where most of 

 the United States production of haddock is landed. 



Figure 2. — Modern otter trawler: predominant type of 

 vessel in the present-day New England haddock 

 fishery. 



Figure 3. — Line trawler; prudoniiuant type of vessel in 

 the early years of the New England haddock fishery. 



sions regarding the fishery. At the ports, since 

 1931, the following data have been collected: 



(1) Almost complete records of the poundages 

 landed from various banks, with records of depths 

 and locations from which the fish were taken, the 

 gear used, and the days actually spent fishing; 



(2) randomized samples of the lengths of fish in the 

 landings; (3) selected samples of scales; and (4) 

 length-weight data. 



FISHING BANKS AND AREAS STUDIED 



The United States haddock fishery has depended 

 upon Georges Bank and the Nova Scotian banks. 

 To the north of these banks, haddock are found, 

 but are little fished by United States fishermen. 

 To the south, haddock are not found, except for 

 stragglers. 



Georges Bank is the most important area for 

 the United States haddock fishery, with about 67 

 percent of the total United States landings coming 

 from this area during recent years (1931 to 1948). 



The haddock on Georges Bank are apparently 

 a relatively distinct and homogeneous stock. 

 Present knowledge indicates that the Fundian 

 Channel, which separates Georges Bank from the 

 Nova Scotian banks, is a natural barrier to the 

 intermigration of bottom-living stages of haddock. 

 Evidence of this comes from studies of size com- 

 positions, growth rates, tagging, and vertebral 

 counts. The size composition of the stock and 

 the sizes of haddock of various ages on Georges 

 Bank are decidedly different from those on Browns 

 Bank across the Fundian Channel (Needier 1930, 

 Schuck and Arnold in press). Although the num- 

 ber of tagged haddock is not large, there is no 

 evidence from the returns that any of them crossed 

 this channel (Needier 1930, Schroeder 1942, 

 United States Fish and Wildlife Service unpub- 

 lished data). There is a seasonal migration in the 

 spring from Georges Bank north along the coast of 

 Massachusetts and Maine as far as the Bay of 

 Fundy and a return to Georges Bank in the fall, 

 but very few haddock are caught on this northward 

 migration. 



Because, first, the Georges Bank area was the 

 most important for the United States haddock 

 fishery and, second, the haddock on Georges Bank 

 formed a relatively distinct population and, third, 

 haddock production from this bank had declined 

 more seriously than production from the Nova 

 Scotian banks, we decided to study first the 



